Damsel in distress
by Dr. Huff-Puff
Summary: A short story about Snape and how he deals with being a double agent and a teacher.
1. A midnight guest

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DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot bunny that was hopping around my neck! The characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

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A/N: This is to prove that Snape HAS a heart! Remember to review after reading! And I expect some good reviews!!

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Damsel in distress

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Chapter 1 - A midnight guest

"Harry, Ron, look who's here!" she called her best friends as she pulled him toward them.

"Viktor Krum!" Ron said with a surprised expression on his face, which soon changed into a frown.

"Hello Viktor." Harry said politely, giving Ron a stern look as he did so.

"Yeah, hello Viktor," Ron said, "nice to see you again."

"Hello Harry, Ron." Viktor said with a bow, "nice to see you too."

"Viktor is going to spend a week at my house," Hermione said happily.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Viktor," Harry tried to change the subject, "can I have a word?"

"Of course."

Harry pulled Viktor to a side and they started talking. Hermione was looking at them with a smile on her face, but it soon faded as she felt Ron staring at her with a frown on his face. She turned to him and put her hands on her hips.

"Ronald Weasley, are you going to learn to behave yourself around guests, or what?"

"Or what." Ron replied.

"Honestly Ron, why do you hate him?" she asked.

"How can you let him stay at your house for a week?"

"He's my friend."

"A friend who doesn't think the same way about you. Do you realize that he's just using you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're jealous." She said.

"Jealous? Me? Ha! In your dreams!" he said and left her.

Hermione shrugged and went to join Harry and Viktor.

"Vikky, it's getting late, can we go home now?" she asked. Harry raised an eyebrow at the sound of 'Vikky' and stared at Hermione.

Viktor smiled and turned to Harry, "see you soon."

"Sure, bye 'Mione." Harry said and watched Hermione and Viktor leave the Burrow.

She had insisted to go to her house by foot. It was a long way to go, but Hermione wanted to walk, and to spend the evening with Viktor. She had so many things to tell him. He was her friend and he cared for her, but how wrong she was.

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Professor Snape, the Potions master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was spending a peaceful rainy night in his apartment in London. He was reading a book named 'Potions and Poisons' when a knock on his door made him drop the book in frustration.

Who cold ever disturb him at this moment of concentration! He got up and opened the door furiously.

"What?" he said, not expecting to see one of his most hated students standing in front of his door, her hair wet from the rain outside, her face bruised and her bottom lip bleeding. Her clothes were torn and she was sobbing silently.

"Merlin's beard," he muttered, "come in."

He was surprised to see Hermione Granger, little miss know-it-all-and-always-proud-to-show-it in front of his doorstep.

Hermione entered silently. She was in bad shape. As soon as he closed the door, he heard a thud and turned to see her lying on the ground. He carried her to his bedroom and put her on his bed and started examining her body for further injuries. He was somehow relieved not to find any other wounds on her body and pulled the bedcovers on her.

"What the bloody hell has happened?" he asked himself as he rushed to his wardrobe and opened it. He pulled a small black box from the bottom of the wardrobe and put it on his desk. Opening it, he took out two vials of potions and a bandage.

She was still unconscious, he could tell. He sat next to her on the bed and poured some potion from one of the vials on the bandage and started cleaning her face. Her bruises started to fade but didn't disappear. The wound on her bottom lip stopped bleeding. He threw the bandage and the vial in the dustbin and took the other vial, which contained sky blue potion and put it on the small table near the bed. He pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down, waiting for her to wake up.

"What could have happened to her?" he silently asked himself, "what was she doing outside at this late time?"

"No, please don't. NO!" Hermione stirred and opened her eyes. She didn't recognize where she was and looked around, only to see her Potions teacher standing near the bed she was lying in and looking at her with concerned eyes.

"Calm down Miss Granger, you're safe." He said with his cold voice.

Hermione tried to sit up, and found it a hard task to complete. To her surprise, Snape helped her to sit and placed a pillow behind her back.

"Where am I?" she asked in a tried voice.

"In my house," he replied, "surely you remember coming here."

She shook her head. "I don't remember how I ended up here. I was on my way home when…" she gasped and cried.

"I told you to calm down Miss Granger." He took the vial from the small table and poured the sky blue potion in a glass and gave it to her. "I will wait until morning to hear your story. So, until then, drink this, it'll help you to sleep."

"I want to go home." She said in a whisper.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to let you go home in this shape?"

Yes. She thought. "My parents don't know where I am."

"I'll send them an owl. Now drink this potion and go to sleep."

Hermione took the glass and drank the potion to the last drop. She gave the glass back to him and tried to get off the bed.

"You won't be able to get to the door now that you have drank it." Snape said with a smirk.

"I… can." She replied but before she could move she was asleep.

"Gryffindors." He muttered and brought her back to lying position and pulled the bedcovers on her.

He took a pillow and left the room, closing the door slowly after him. He heard a door knock. "Who is it?" he asked.

"It's me Severus." It was Lucius Malfoy.

Snape took out his wand and put a locking charm on the door of his bedroom, then he pointed the wand to the pillow in his hand and muttered. "Evanesco." The pillow disappeared. He put the wand back into the pocket of his robes and opened the door.

"What took you so long?" said Lucius as he entered. "You need to change the habit of wearing that robe at home."

"I'll do as I please at the moment, thank you very much." Snape replied.

Lucius sat on the couch and put his cane on the table.

"What are you doing out at this time?" Snape looked at the clock; "It's almost two in the morning."

"I had some work to attend. A task for the Dark Lord."

Snape felt his body get rigid. "What task? How come I do not know of it?"

"It was arranged this morning. You know that my son hates that mudblood at school, don't you?"

Snape nodded.

"Well, the Dark Lord obviously knew about it and he advised me to get rid of her."

Snape didn't say a word; he kept staring at Lucius, his face expressionless.

"Do you have some fire whiskey?" Lucius asked.

"Yes." Snape replied and got up. After a moment he returned with two glasses of fire whiskey and gave one to Lucius.

"Cheers," Lucius said and took a sip of his glass, "now, where was I? Oh yes, the Dark Lord wanted me to get rid of her."

"And what did you do?"

"I heard that one of her friends was arriving today, and I decided to meet him before she did."

"Who is this friend?" Snape asked, drinking his fire whiskey.

"Viktor Krum."

Snape still couldn't understand how and why did Hermione end up in that condition. If Krum was supposedly her friend, and he remembered perfectly how close they were to each other about a couple of years ago, during the days of the Triwizard Tournament. If Krum was with her, then he must've tried to protect her somehow, but where is he now? Did he fall into Lucius' trap?

"When I met him this morning, he was more than happy to cooperate. He said that his headmaster would be pleased to know that he helped Lucius Malfoy." Lucius laughed loudly. "He won't be telling his headmaster anything now."

"What do you mean?"

"He's dead."

"He's what?" Snape said, trying his best not to show any emotions.

"Dead, Severus. He tried to resist the Imperius Curse and I killed him." Lucius swallowed the rest of his drink.

"Tell me how it happened." Snape said.

"Well, I wanted to talk to him before he could meet the mudblood, but somehow, she was there before me. So, I cast the Imperius Curse on him and when she wasn't there I told him what he was supposed to do." Lucius said with a smile.

"And what was he supposed to do?"

"He was going to use her and then kill her." Lucius replied and his smile disappeared. "When he was about to do it, she realized that he was under the curse, and she tried to make him fight it. Then I was there to kill her myself, but that bloke had managed to fight the curse and he tried to attack me. I should've stunned him and killed her first. She ran away as soon as he was dead. The Dark Lord won't be pleased to know that I have failed. I have to find her and finish my task."

"Yes, you do that Lucius. You don't want to upset the Dark Lord." Snape said. He turned to look at his room door, hoping that Hermione would still be asleep and Lucius won't hear or see her.

"Can you use Legilimensy to find her?" Lucius asked.

Snape was surprised by the request. No one had ever asked him to do such thing. If he didn't do it, then Lucius would tell Voldemort that he refused to cooperate. If he tells Lucius that Hermione was in the next door, she'd be dead. Snape decided to do it, but with a little twist of information.

"Alright, I'll do it." he replied. "Where was the last time you saw her?"

"One block away." Lucius said.

Snape closed his eyes and pretended that he was searching for Hermione.

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Stupid git. Snape thought. _He doesn't even realize that Legilimensy isn't the same as Telepathy._

"So?" asked Lucius impatiently.

"She's confused." Snape said with his cold voice. "She's heading to that place where Muggles use an underground train."

"Good," Lucius said, "I'll see you tomorrow then. Thanks Severus."

Lucius got up and left the apartment. Snape closed the door after him and put a locking charm on it. Then, he rushed to his room. He unlocked the door and went in. Hermione was still sleeping. Snape sighed in relief and went back to the living room. He conjured a pillow for himself and put it on the couch. He lay down and closed his eyes. The Dark Lord won't be happy with him on the next Death Eater meeting.


	2. Rescue is at hand!

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Miss Piratess: Thanks! You're the first reviewer for this fic :D

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v-babe24: Wow! You're her cousin? Cool!! Thanks for the review, and this is the last chapter.

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Chapter 2 - Rescue is at hand!

Hermione woke up in the morning feeling stiff. She slowly sat up in the bed and looked around. She was in some kind of a room, but she couldn't remember coming here.

She pushed the covers off her and got out of bed. That's when she realized her clothes were torn. She remembered last night's incident.

"Oh God, Viktor." She whispered to herself and sat on the edge of the bed. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered.

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Viktor was acting strange after they got out of the Burrow. She insisted on going home by foot and he didn't mind at all. After one hour of walking, Viktor stopped. He looked at her, and she felt that his eyes were emotionless. She knew what that look meant - he was under the Imperious Curse. She looked around them, trying to see who was there. To her surprise, Viktor grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. She struggled, but he was stronger than her. He slapped her when she tried to push him, and before she could reach her wand, he ripped her clothes. Then she saw him. A man wearing a black cloak and his face was hidden under a black hood walked to their direction. Her heart started to beat stronger. She has seen that outfit before. That man was a Death Eater, and when he spoke, she knew who he was - Lucius Malfoy.

"Kill her." He demanded in his cold voice, his wand held high and pointing at Viktor.

Hermione could see that Viktor was struggling against the curse. He wanted to do as he was told, but he was trembling.

"Viktor, please don't do it," she whispered.

"Kill her, now!" Lucius said.

Viktor reached for his wand, and when he was about to raise it, he shouted: "NO!"

He fell on his knees, panting. "No," he said in a whisper. He got up and turned to face the Death Eater. "No one kills my girl!" he said and raise his wand at Lucius.

"No, please don't! NO!" Hermione screamed as she saw Lucius raise his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!" Lucius said, and a green light erupted from his wand and hit Viktor straight on his chest. Viktor fell to the ground motionless, his eyes wide opened.

Hermione stared at him, tears filling her eyes. She looked at Lucius who was advancing on her. She was shaking; she didn't know what to do or what to think. The only thought that came to her mind was to run.

She ran through the dark streets, without looking back. When she felt that she wasn't being followed, she stopped. She was breathing heavily. Her body ached, and her legs were trembling. She looked around; she knew that place. Her teacher lived here and she decided to go to him for help. She didn't care that her clothes were torn, she didn't care that her hair was in a huge mess and that her face was bruised. Lucius Malfoy has just killed her friend.

She sat on the edge of the bed and put her face in her hands and cried. How could she let Malfoy kill Viktor? Why didn't she stop him? What was the use of being a member of the D.A. if she wasn't able to defend her friend?

"Oh Viktor, what have I done?" she asked herself between sobs.

A soft touch on her shoulder made her jump. She looked around and saw professor Snape looking at her with his cold eyes. Only they weren't cold this time. He looked at her with some kind of confusion.

"Are you all right Miss Granger?" he asked.

Of course she wasn't all right! She has failed! For the first time in her life she has failed to do something when she was supposed to!

She looked at him with wet eyes. She wanted to say something, but couldn't. She hang her head down and stared at her feet.

"I heard about what happened. Lucius was here last night," he said, "do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. She wanted to tell him everything, but she wasn't able to find her voice at this moment. She wanted to see Harry and Ron, but they didn't know where she was. Her parents must be worried about her now, but she wasn't able to say anything at this moment.

"I've sent an owl to Dumbledore and your parents," Snape said, "I told your parents that you have been attacked and now you are safe. Dumbledore is calling the Order for a meeting at Grimmauld Place."

She looked at him again, and this time she managed to smile. "Thank you," she said slowly.

"You must be hungry now," he said, "I've prepared breakfast and I was waiting for you to wake up."

"You didn't have to," she replied.

"But I did. Now, come on, go to the bathroom and wash your face. I'll be waiting for you in the kitchen."

He left the room and closed the door gently after him. Hermione stared at the door. Was this man her Potions teacher? Was this really Severus Snape, the one who kept insulting her during classes and taking points from Gryffindor just because she has asked a question or answered one?

She shook her head and got up. This was all confusing. She didn't know why did he act so calm with her, without any insults, and she didn't care. He helped her in her time of need. Lucius Malfoy was here last night and Snape had kept her safe. As she got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom, she made a mental note to thank him for everything.

"Feeling better?" Snape asked when he saw her enter the kitchen.

"Yes, thank you." She replied.

"Have a seat." He said.

Hermione sat at the table and stared at him. He was pouring some tea for the both of them, and she noticed that he looked different from professor Snape that she knows at school.

"Thank you for not telling him I was here," she said.

"If I told him, he would've made me do his dirty job for him." He replied as he sat down.

"He didn't even give him the chance to defend himself," she was about to cry again.

"I am sorry for your loss," he said and took a bite of bread, "after we finish breakfast, we are going to Grimmauld Place. You are going to stay there until the start of term."

"Why?"

"The Dark Lord wants you dead."

She was shocked. Why would Voldemort want to kill her? What interest did he have in her?

"Isn't he supposed to be after Harry?" she asked.

"He is, but your case is different. Apparently, they planned it in a few hours," he replied, "we will go to Grimmauld Place, and Dumbledore would know what to do next."

She nodded and continued eating her breakfast.

They went to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place by floo and Hermione noticed that most of the members of the Order were there already. She knew she had to relive everything that happened last night again, but when they were all seated around the meeting table, she looked at Snape who nodded to her and then she told them everything that happened.

When she finished, she was crying again. Mrs. Weasley was trying to comfort her, but she wasn't succeeding.

Snape told the order his part of the story and got up. He helped Hermione out of the kitchen and took her upstairs, to a room where she would rest. The Order would do the rest without her being there.

He entered a room on the first floor; not knowing whom it belonged. He took Hermione to the bed and helped her lay down.

"Try to relax," he said calmly, "I don't want to give you a relaxing potion because you will want more of it."

"Thank you, Sir." Hermione replied.

Snape was on his way out when she called him. He stopped and turned to her.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked.

Snape smiled at her. It was the first time for Hermione to see her Potions teacher smile.

"Because I'm your teacher." He replied and walked out of the room, closing the door gently after him.

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THE END


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